Desserts and Deserts

Second Sunday of Advent

           

I’m a little weird.  Most of you have probably learned that already.  Why do I think I’m weird?  I like formality (in formal situations) and I also love country music.  Those two things don’t usually go together.  In most situations I’m very stoic.  And yet, you get me listening to a sad song like “I Loved Her First,” or get me watching a movie like “Old Yeller,” and water starts streaming down my eyes and my voice starts to waver and crack.  I’m also someone who loves grammar, and loves speaking grammatically correctly.  I think many people consider that weird.  You will rarely hear me end a sentence with a proposition.  I’m not confused by there, they’re, and their, nor when to use who and whom.  The English teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas school in East Lansing gave me, as a parting gift, the New York Times bestselling book, Eats Shoots and Leaves about proper punctuation and its importance.  I also love helping people understand grammar, using funny tricks.  For example, the way you know how to spell dessert versus desert is that you always want more dessert, and so you add a second “s.” 

           

Deserts (not desserts) play an important role in our readings today.  In the first reading we hear Isaiah say, “A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord!”  And in our Gospel passage St. Mark writes about St. John the Baptist as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.  “John,” Mark tells us, “appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  Deserts are key in what the Word of God is saying to us today.  And deserts were key for the Chosen People.

            We don’t think of deserts as places of life.  There is such a lack of water, that only the strongest plants that have developed a system to survive can make it.  We’re used to seeing deserts with nothing but sand, like in Death Valley or the Sahara desert.  But Antarctica is also a type of desert.  In any case, deserts are not know for life or being great places to be.  Deserts are places where humans are in a race to beat the elements and find water, the source of life. 

            But, for the Chosen People, the desert was a very important place.  It still wasn’t a very kind place, but it was important.  Desert brought back the memory of the pilgrimage from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  In between the slavery in Egypt and the land flowing with milk and honey in the Promised Land, there was a desert, in fact 40 years of desert, as the Chosen People did not trust God, and so God did not allow any of those who had rebelled against Him to enter the land He prepared for them.

            Wandering in the desert was not fun, and it didn’t carry with it the best memories for the Jews.  It seems like every other chapter of the pilgrimage to the Promised Land is a complaint of the Jews about how good Egypt (the place of slavery!) was in comparison to wandering in the desert.  There’s no food, no water, and no trust that God will provide them.  At one point, the people complain and God sends little seraph serpents that bite the people to stop their whining.  Even Moses has problems in the desert.  The people were complaining about not having water.  God tells Moses to strike the rock once, and water will flow from it.  But Moses gets so frustrated that he says, “Shall I provide water for you?” and strikes the rock twice.  Because of Moses’ disobedience to God, even he is not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

            And yet, the desert was the place that God continued to draw Israel to Himself, and teach her how much He loved her.  It was where the Israelites learned that no matter what, they could trust God; God will provide.  They always had enough food and drink when they trusted God, and when they trusted God, nothing went wrong.  As much of a trial as the desert was, it was also the sacred space for Israel: the place where they learned how to love and trust God.

            So it makes perfect sense that the desert is the place where preparations are made for the Lord, as Isaiah prophesies.  It makes perfect sense that St. John the Baptist chooses the desert as the place where repentance will take place.  God’s highway is going to go straight through the desert, and God is once more going to teach His Beloved People how to love Him.  In the desert, comfort will be given to Israel as they acknowledge their sins, and their guilt will be expiated, expunged, and a cleansing will take place, a cleansing with water which prepares for a cleansing with the Holy Spirit. 

            Don’t be afraid of the desert!  That is where we learn to love God.  Maybe your desert is an illness or a disease in yourself or a loved one.  Maybe your desert is final exams, or an upcoming test, or just school in general!  In this Year for Marriage in Michigan, maybe your marriage is in a desert.  Do not be afraid!  Illness, difficulties in school, and difficulties in marriage are not good things, but God makes them a means to learn to love Him more.  God makes the desert a sacred place where trials are meant to lead you closer to God and closer to a land flowing with milk and honey.  Do not be afraid, but do not be apathetic, either!  In illness, seek to unite the suffering with Jesus’ on the cross.  In school, see how God teaches you patience in going through things that are difficult or gives you opportunities to rely on others for help (not cheating, mind you!) or just is stretching your mind in a way that will help you become a better person.  In marriage, do not wait until things are really bad and about to fall apart.  Treat yourself to a Marriage Encounter weekend to make a good marriage better.  Or if you do find yourself in a marriage that is falling apart, invest in a Retrouvaille weekend to give your marriage every last chance to be salvaged.  If you are divorced with no hope of reconciliation, go through the process of a Declaration of Invalidity (commonly known as an annulment) to be able to heal those memories and be able to be free to marry again according to God’s plan.  In whatever circumstance you are in, listen to the “voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’”  Everyone wants more dessert, and so we add a second “s.”  Through this Advent, may we also desire the desert as the place where we come to love God more!